Dumb Question: drop your phone, gets a little dinged up can you exchange it?

[baseballbert]

Happened tonight because dumbass me didn't have the case on. Fell out of my shorts and is now a little dinged up on the corners. Case on it for life to cover them up, or do I stand a chance at an exchange inside of the 30 day window?

 

[rutvik19]

Probably not. I believe that it has to be like "new" in order to exchange it. If you had insurance on it, then yes. I'm not sure what the policy is if it's with in 30 days of purchase, but I would suspect they will make every attempt to make up for any losses.

 

[vizagdude]

Is it past the 30 day period? If it is, then you cannot. But if it's within the 30 day period, you can always tell them that there is an issue with the phone (even the purple screen issue) and get it exchanged.

If not pay the $35 restocking fee and get a different color.

I know this bad practice.. but hey, if they let you do it, you CAN do it. It's choosing between ding phone looks better with you or with Nokia...

 

[ninjaap]

You have 30 days from date of purchase to add insurance.

 

[jbjtkbw007]

Having worked in retentions for a carrier previously, this question makes me cringe. Company policy changes because of users and situations like this. Sorry to take the higher moral ground, but when you see how deductibles have risen for smartphones and other fees that go into place, situations like this which are multiplied by the thousands, which still amounts to a small amount of users, isn't good for everyone.

Again, I apologize for being THAT person, but seriously, I'm looking out for the consumer overall having seen it from the other side.

On another note, my favorite calls of all time (and there are a LOT of them):

"I just bought my iPhone and I lost it X amount of days later. Can I get out of my contract? I'm in the return period."

 

[ninjaap]

Oh please... Most of people will never make a claim, yet still pay monthly. There is a limit to how much deductible can be charged before it doesn't become worth for consumers to purchase. Deductible has gone up, because the retail costs of phones has gone up. Not because of people making claims. Insurance company won't be in his business unless they are making money. They surely aren't doing this to benefit us.

 

[jbjtkbw007]

Notice I said small percentage. I never stated primary cause, did I? No one is forced to buy insurance. Its an option. You know the replacement cost up front. It is not a requirement. There are still the options of paying full price for a replacement or purchasing a used replacement. The carrier is not responsible for a user's misfortune, but they do offer an option that does prevent you from paying the full cost in case of incident.

And again, it isn't a requirement to have it. You can opt not to and use other options to replace your device.

 

[jbjtkbw007]

And OP, ita not a dumb question since you asked because you didn't know for sure vs. just making an attempt to replace your device up front. I at least applaud you for doing that.

 

[ninjaap]

Notice I said small percentage. I never stated primary cause, did I? No one is forced to buy insurance. Its an option. You know the replacement cost up front. It is not a requirement. There are still the options of paying full price for a replacement or purchasing a used replacement. The carrier is not responsible for a user's misfortune, but they do offer an option that does prevent you from paying the full cost in case of incident.

And again, it isn't a requirement to have it. You can opt not to and use other options to replace your device.

But it is a requirement to sign a 2-3 year contract. When we only had 1 year contracts, we didn't need insurance. Carriers and insurance companies realized they can make money off of us, because we're backed into a wall with long term contracts. Then not too long ago, they started offering loss and damaged phones to warranties, so they have a reason to charge more monthly and a higher deductible.

Its not a requirement, but you almost have to. Otherwise, you're taking a big chance for the next 24-36 months.

I certainly value your opinion, though. But I don't think it's fair to bring up morality and to even claim/assume that somehow a small percentage of consumers has something to do with increasing deductible and hurting everyone else.

Anyway, this is just my opinion and views on mobile phone insurance. No offense to you and nothing personal, jbjtkbw007.

 

[invertme]

I've head a lot of people say that small dings in the case of the L900 will go away after a few days. That the case is sort of "self healing". Give it a few days and see what happens.